Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to decouple the price of wholesale electricity from the cost of gas beyond moving more renewables into Contracts for Difference.
The Government is determined to increase the share of renewables on the system so that the electricity price is set by cheaper clean power sources rather than gas. Every wind turbine we switch on and solar panel we deploy helps push gas off as the price setter.
The Contracts for Difference scheme remains one of our most successful initiatives for doing this. However, this sits alongside other flagship renewable energy policies, including removing the ban on onshore wind within 72 hours of taking office, and the most significant programme of investment in homegrown clean energy in British history – with £61.9bn in capital funding committed in the Spending Review.